MCX Gold slipped yesterday, after a failed attempt to take a shot at Rs 18800 per 10-gram levels in the previous session. The commodity was seen getting pressurized as an old adversary reared its head. Gold was seen buckling under pressure in the face of a strong US dollar which rose to a six-week high against the euro after a European Central Bank official suggested monetary policy should remain loose until next year. The counter ended at Rs 18719 per 10 grams., down from Rs 56 on the day after hitting a high of Rs 18764. Prices had toppled to a low of Rs 18655 earlier in the day. This crushed the Euro under 1.2700 levels as traders considered the current rebound in the Euro zone to be more of product engineered by the plethora of government stimuli in the economy over the last year and half. Gold's drop was a little surprising, as the yellow metal has moved in a perfect harmony with the dollar off late. The yellow metal failed to live up to its safe haven status yesterday even as the dollar continued to do so in a convincing fashion. This bizarre movement was traced down to the losses in equities, which were seen triggering margin calls and led some traders to sell their gold holdings. Though the metal did not stay far from its seven-week high near $1240 per ounce, it endured a steep sell off to end under $1230 per ounce. The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, fell $6.60, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,228.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had shot up sharply on Thursday as a spate of negative economic news, including a surprise jump in U.S. jobless claims- that topped nine-month highs weighed on the equity markets.

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